His empathy triggered a fresh flood of tears. That he understood why she’d done what she had meant everything. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.” Rafe released her with a final squeeze. “Now trade seats with me.”
Katie climbed over him into the passenger seat, buckling the safety belt with shaky hands as he settled in behind the wheel. “Thanks for taking over. I’m so tired I’m ready to collapse.”
“I’ll bet.” Rafe shifted the truck into drive and pulled back onto the road, resuming their torturously slow pace. “You said you killed six wolves, but you’ve only told me about five. Was the last one after you found Shilah?”
“Yes. He surprised me when I went back to the kitchen to get the shotgun after I moved Shilah to the bathroom.” A chill shook her as she recalled their encounter. “It was the one who bit me. The one with Zeke. That was probably my closest call last night.”
The blood drained from Rafe’s face. “But you’re all right?”
“I will be.” Katie scooted over in her seat and rested her head against his shoulder. “How about you? How are you doing?”
“Happy to be alive.” Rafe kissed the crown of her head. “Sad for Cooper. Confused.”
She knew without asking. “About Susan.”
“Yeah.” He flexed his fingers on the steering wheel, jaw set in determination. “I’m ready to hear that part now.”
Katie exhaled, not sure she was ready to tell it. But they had hours of driving ahead of them, Rafe needed to know what had become of his first love, and there was no point in putting it off the telling just because she was afraid of how he might react. She couldn’t hide anything from him. She didn’t even want to try.
So she started, once again, from the beginning.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Rafe listened quietly until she got to the part where she’d confronted Susan about her disappearance. Then he lost his cool. “So you’re saying that she’s been living with those psychopaths all this time?”
Katie winced at the anger in Rafe’s voice, and at the sharp turn he took entirely too fast. She’d expected him to be upset, but now she seriously questioned the wisdom in timing the big reveal to coincide with their desperate escape down an icy mountain road. “She bonded with the guy. She didn’t mean for it to happen. It just did.”
The muscles in Rafe’s jaw bunched. “How did it happen? Tell me what she said.”
“She was out walking near your cabin and came across this man—“
“What’s his name?” Rafe interrupted. When she hesitated to answer, he gave her an entreating look. “Please. I just want to know if I’ve met him before.”
“Ian.” Katie watched his face carefully. There was no spark of recognition in his eyes. “He didn’t come to fight you last night.” Dreading the impact of this next detail, she added, “He stayed home to be with their daughter. Susan stayed away, too. Said she wasn’t sure whose side she would’ve been on if she’d joined the rest of her pack-mates.”
The anger on Rafe’s face vanished, replaced by a stony mask. “For years I imagined how they might have tortured her. How they’d made her suffer before they finally killed her. I’ve imagined her dying a hundred different ways, and she’s been living only miles away with a bond-mate and a pup of her own?” His knuckles turned white as he gripped the steering wheel. “I don’t understand why she would do that to me.”
“She didn’t want to hurt you.” When he looked at her, incredulous, Katie shrugged. “I don’t think she knew how to deal with breaking the heart of a boy she genuinely loved. She was young and selfish. It was easier for her if you mourned her, rather than hated her.”
He cursed under his breath, turning hard eyes back to the road ahead. Then he exhaled and took his foot off the gas pedal, reducing their speed. “I’m sorry. I don’t even know why I’m so upset. She bonded. And because she did, I had the chance to bond…with you.” He gave her a look of apology. “If she hadn’t left, I probably would never have found you that night. I might not have ever known what it’s like to be connected to someone on this level. So in a way, I’m glad she did what she did. But it still pisses me off.”
“Of course it does. She was your first love and she disappeared. You thought something terrible had happened to her, and you spent years trying to make the rest of your pack listen to your concerns. It’s only natural to be angry when you find out it was all a lie. But she obviously loved you, and she does seem genuinely sorry about hurting you. I know she hopes that coming to my aid this morning has helped to right some of the wrongs she committed.” Tightening her fingers on his thigh, she experimented with sending him calming thoughts. “As the woman who needed her help—desperately—I’m asking you to let her off the hook just a little bit. For me.”
Rafe grumbled under his breath. “Aw, hell. I forgive her. Of course I do.” He dropped a hand from the wheel to cover hers for just a moment. “At the end of the day, I’m thrilled that she didn’t suffer some terrible death. And I’m happy that she’s happy. I just wish she’d been straightforward with me. I would have been upset, sure, but…“ He winced. “It would have been better than seeing her raped and murdered in my imagination night after night.”
“Well, at least she’s come clean now. She didn’t have to help me get you into the truck, or give me her name. She risked the wrath of her own pack to come to our aid this morning. Even if the gesture is years too late, that has to count for something.”
“It does.” When the truck’s tires spun suddenly on a patch of ice, Rafe eased off the accelerator even further. “But now I feel like an ass. I can’t tell you how many times I butted heads with Alpha over Susan’s disappearance. I called him a coward for not pursuing the truth about what happened to her. I was ready to start a goddamn war. I can’t help feeling a little guilty about that, in retrospect, even if he couldn’t have known that she was okay.”
Katie bit her lip. This one was going to hurt. “Actually, he did.”
Rafe went deadly still. “What?”
“Your Alpha knew. Susan went to him after her bonding. She didn’t want him going after Ian’s pack thinking that something had happened to her, but she asked him to keep it secret from you.” Katie paused, afraid to say more. A fresh surge of rage rolled off Rafe and hit her in the gut. At the core of his intense emotion was the most profound sensation of betrayal she’d ever experienced. The potency of it took her breath away.
“I take back what I said about feeling guilty.” His low voice sent a chill down Katie’s spine. He slowed the truck even more, as though countering his blistering anger with an overabundance of caution. “And now I remember why it is that I don’t need a goddamn pack.”
Her heart hurt for him even as she found hope in the idea that he didn’t need to be around other wolves to be happy. After the past forty-eight hours, she knew one thing for sure—they were better off living as far away from his kind as possible. “I’m so sorry to be the one to tell you all this.” She lifted her hand and, hoping he was receptive to affection, stroked the short hairs on the back of his neck. “But you deserve the truth—and I’m pretty sure I can’t lie to you, anyway.”
Rafe rested his head on the seat, tearing his eyes away from the road for a beat to search her face with an expression so open and sincere that Katie melted before he even spoke. “I wouldn’t want it to come from anyone but you. Because I know you have my back, and you’re literally the only living creature in the world—besides Shilah—that I can say that about. You’ve shown me that you’ll be there even when things get rough. I want you with me when things get rough.”
She leaned across the center console and kissed his stubbled cheek. “That’s a promise.”
He gave her a quick peck on the lips before she pulled back. “This Susan thing is a mind fuck, but I am okay. I swear. Or at least I will be.” Exhaling, Rafe murmured, “Honestly, I have a feeling that all it will take is one night alone with you, safe from harm.”
Despite her exhaustion, the thought of having Rafe back in bed—without anyone waiting outside to kill them—triggered powerful yearning. “Can you imagine? An entire night together without worrying about being murdered? Sounds like a dream.”
Rafe’s upper lip twitched in apparent amusement. “Doesn’t it?”
Emboldened by the distance they’d put between themselves and the scene of last night’s carnage, Katie slid her hand up the inside of Rafe’s thigh. Running a fingernail over the length of his shaft, she murmured, “On that note, I’m looking forward to some very hot and explicitly consensual sex sometime in the near future.”
For almost the first time since she’d met him, Rafe didn’t tense up at the teasing contact. He didn’t push her away. Instead he hardened beneath her hand with a sensual groan. “That’s a promise.” Nostrils flaring, he sat in silence and thrust his hips into her touch, satisfaction ghosting over his face. His pleasure fed her own, and the fact that he finally seemed comfortable around her brought a profound sense of relief. Rafe shot her a sidelong grin, sharing in her happiness. “I will do everything in my power to ensure that the first two days of our relationship are the absolute worst we ever spend together. It’s all uphill from here, sweetheart.”
“I like the sound of that.” Katie leaned back in her seat and exhaled deeply. Some of the tension in her muscles drained away, but she wasn’t going to be able to truly relax until they were either at a hotel or her apartment in the city. Until then, anything could happen. A flat tire, a hidden patch of ice, a ferocious werewolf leaping onto the windshield.
Or a tall, well-built man waiting for them just around a curve in the road, rifle at the ready.
Rafe slammed on the brakes, sending the truck skidding across the snow and ice until it came to a shuddering halt only ten feet away from the man and the giant blue pick-up truck he’d parked across both lanes. Katie clutched at a leather strap that was attached to the ceiling of the truck and strained to see the face of the imposing figure who stared them down. She recognized him almost immediately, which wasn’t surprising. She’d met him less than thirty-six hours earlier. It was Rafe’s Alpha—and he scared her every bit as much now as he did then.
Maybe more.
“Fuck.” Rafe checked the rearview mirror as though contemplating escape. The road was narrow and Katie was certain that he would never be able to turn the truck around before Alpha shot them both, if that was his plan. That he hadn’t immediately raised his weapon and fired was encouraging, but the anger that burned in his eyes unfurled sick dread in her gut. Rafe took his hands off the steering wheel and leaned across the seat to block her body with his. “Which gun do you want?”
She didn’t register the question until he pressed the revolver into her palm. “This one,” she confirmed, and held the weapon on her lap in sweaty hands. “What are you going to do?”
“Talk to him.” Rafe glanced out the windshield, then unlocked the driver’s side door. He spoke under his breath so Alpha couldn’t overhear. “Or kill him, depending on how this goes down. I want you to stay in the truck with Shilah.”
“Okay, but be careful.” Katie blushed after the earnest admonition left her mouth. She knew by now that Rafe would do whatever it took to protect her. “Don’t get killed.”
Rafe reached into the backseat to retrieve the shotgun. He grabbed the door handle, but rather than open it, he gave her one last, loving smile. So much emotion passed between them that Katie had to grip the dashboard with her free hand to keep herself from flying into his arms. He murmured, “I love you, too,” then climbed out of the truck, mouth set in a stern line.
Katie startled when he shut the door. Ramrod tense, she kept one hand on the revolver and used the other to clutch at the dash. She watched Alpha’s face, hoping to discern his intentions, but he was impossible to read. Suddenly glad for the broken-out windows, Katie listened hard, prepared to jump to Rafe’s aid at the first sign of trouble. After last night, she had no problem killing any werewolf who stood in the way of their freedom.
Rafe hoisted the shotgun and held it against his chest. “Alpha.”
The powerful pack leader nodded in acknowledgment. “Figured you’d head this way.”
“It seemed smarter than driving through their backyard.” Rafe gestured at Alpha’s weapon. “What’s that for?”
Alpha grinned. “What’s yours for?”
“Protection. In case you didn’t hear, Katie and I have a few enemies.” Rafe mirrored Alpha’s casual air, doing an impressive job of looking completely unintimidated. “Fewer now than yesterday, though.”
“That’s what I hear.” Alpha’s attention shifted to the truck and he made eye contact with her through the windshield, then turned away dismissively. “I was told the human survived the night. Wasn’t so sure you had, though.”
“I’m fine,” Rafe said. “Just eager to get Katie the hell away from here.”
“Oh, is that what you’re doing?” Alpha took a step forward, prompting Rafe to bring the shotgun down into firing position. Stopping short, Alpha clucked his tongue in admonishment. “You’re going to kill me now?”
“Not unless you make me.” Rafe hesitated, conflict playing out across his face. “Not if you let us go.”
“So is this a one-way trip for you? Or are you still planning to drop her off at the nearest town and say goodbye forever?”
Rafe glanced into the truck, and Katie held her breath as she waited for his answer. There was no way she was letting him go. She refused. Rafe turned to Alpha. “I’m not coming back.”
“You’re willing to abandon your pack like that? For a human?” Alpha had the nerve to sound genuinely betrayed.
“It’s not safe for us here—and not being together isn’t an option. She’s my bond-mate.” Rafe hardened his expression, his own feelings of betrayal clearly coming to the surface. “You know all about how powerful a force a soul-bond is, don’t you? So powerful that it compelled Susan to stage a disappearance and run away from me to join our enemies. So powerful that you chose to lie to me for years about the fact that you knew.” Fire burned in his eyes. “You fucking knew.”
If Alpha was surprised by Rafe’s words, he hid it admirably. “You’re right. A soul-bond between wolves is one of the most powerful forces in the universe. I saw that in my parents every day. Believe it or not, I also saw it in Susan and her mate the day they came to me. She was terrified for you to find out that she’d bonded with someone else. I agreed to keep her secret because I wanted to help protect that bond, and I honestly wasn’t sure how you would react. I worried you would confront Ian and get yourself killed. Or kill him, and therefore Susan. You were still no more than a pup at that time, and I did what I thought was best. But I didn’t enjoy deceiving you. Especially when you refused to stop inciting war with our neighbors over her imagined murder.” He cocked his head as though something had just occurred to him. “Was Susan involved in last night’s festivities?”
“It doesn’t matter.” Rafe lifted his chin. “Listen, Katie and I need to leave, now. You and I both know that it’s only a matter of time before they come after us.”
“Oh, I do know.” Alpha snorted. “Jack Devereaux just called me with an ultimatum.”
“Let me guess. You kill us to avoid retaliation on the pack, or you get ready for war.”
“Give the wolf a bone.” Alpha chuckled. Katie noticed that he still hadn’t brought up his rifle to aim at Rafe or her, which was probably a good sign. At least she hoped it was. “Well, they don’t want me to kill both of you. Just you, Rafe. Jack has requested that the human be turned over to their pack so they can have their fun with her before she dies.”
Katie’s stomach bottomed out. She tightened her grip on the gun, ready to defend herself in case Alpha followed through on his end of the bargain. She’d rather put a bullet through her own brain than be turned over to that group of savages. Movement from outside the car registered in her peripheral vision—Rafe, giving her a confid
ent shake of his head. No. His silent promise not to let anyone violate her relaxed her only marginally. Terrified by where Alpha’s threat took her imagination, she remained ready to start shooting at the slightest provocation.
Rafe turned back to Alpha and glowered. “That’s not going to happen.”
“It sounds rather distasteful to me, too. But it would certainly save your pack a lot of bloodshed.” Alpha looked at Katie again, then Rafe, as though trying to figure them out. “I’m guessing they took heavy losses last night, based on how pissed off Jack is, but I still don’t relish the idea of a war with those sociopaths. There’s a reason we’ve always done what we could to keep the peace with them. They aren’t our enemies.” His pointed gaze strayed to Katie.
Rafe bristled. “Katie isn’t our enemy, either. And what’s the point of a pack if not to stand up for their own?” His voice broke and he paused, clearly trying to reign in the resentment that Katie could feel simmering within him. “That said, I don’t want a war, either. You and I both know that Katie will never be safe living out here, no matter who wins. She belongs with her own kind—and I belong with her.”
“You would abandon your pack to fight the war you started so you can live among those who hate you?” Alpha cocked his head. “It’s a whole different world out there. One that isn’t friendly to wolves like us.”
“We’ll be fine.” At Alpha’s mocking snort, Rafe growled. “I will be fine. Just let us go. If we’re not here, there’s nothing to fight about. Just tell Jack you couldn’t find me, that we escaped, and I promise to disappear forever. Tell Jack that if I ever come back, you’ll kill me yourself.” He gave Katie another sidelong glance, one that lingered. “Katie and I didn’t choose this, but it’s very real. She’s done nothing wrong except be human in the midst of werewolves. And all I’ve done is protect my bond-mate. I know you don’t want war, Alpha, but I’m pretty sure you do want to do the right thing.” His jaw tensed. “Even if you haven’t always.”
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